Hing Hon EK-001

[andy_wheels]

the Hing Hon EK-001... anyone bent one?

the one i have is one the of the most extreme noise machines i have. i've recently been playing some music sessions with a drummer and bassist and the little hing hon is the centre piece of our sound! screaming feedback distortion via a hack on the mic input and a kinda feedback/resonance which i call 'flez'. you can also hack the envelopes and get staccato beats or squarewave drones/screams/tones.

here's a link from the always useful tablehooters site:
http://users.informatik.haw-hamburg.de/~windle_c/TableHooters/HingHon_EK001.html

as you can see, there's no label on the synth so spotting one is a bit random... well worth picking one up though and you're sure to get it for a cheap price. mine was 50p at a car boot sale. 

[gmeredith]

This guy seems to have that one, and is doing some stuff with it:

http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=messageboard.viewThread&entryID=20048210&adTopicID=18&categoryID=0&IsSticky=0&groupID=100146210&Mytoken=FBBF2C89-3077-4AE3-885FE5F0199F47951117659375

Ask him about some of his bends

Cheers, Graham

[andy_wheels]

doesn't look like he's bent it as much as i have. his descriptions say nothing about the wonderful extreme pitch/distortion/feedback festival that comes out of mine everytime i turn it on... 

but thanks for the link anyway..

anyone else come accross the magical hing hon?

[djsynchro]

Yeah I have one, still didn't do anything with it, Wanna tell what you did to yiours? 

[iqoruvuc]

I have a couple of these, one that currently has the back off it.  I have so far only found the bends mentioned on the tablehooters site, but I have been playing around with LFO's on this one because the pitch is controlled by a resistor.  I wonder if the other Hin Hong I have has different circuitry or not.  Even using just the LFO's the Hing Hong makes some nice sounds!

[andy_wheels]

my hin hon is a little upset at the moment. the envelope controls i've added seem to be playing up and it doesn't understand the concept of decay anymore... nice if you want a continuous tone but not all that useful beyond that.

i'm planning on operating on it today but need to get my pss270 off the operating table first (i've been accessing all the lovely chorus controls on it, yummy).

anyway, i'll try and remember to take some notes/photos when i open it up.

there's a bent hin hon on ebay at the moment. bit of a shame that it looks rather under bent to me. i always get a bit upset to see jobs half done...

[Orangery]

I think I paid £1 for mine at a car boot some moths ago now.  The first thing I came across was the pitch bends... two of these dramatically slow down the rhythms.  With a moistened finger I can make the thing scream.  The machine has been in bits for ages... if I get it finished I'll post some pics of the bends... one day!

[ne7]

Got mine off ebay - for 99p! Still cant quite believe I manged to find one - and its even the original shape with the nice red drum pads

I LOVE this machine... even without messing with it - it comes out with the most amazing honks and noises - just by holding down 2 or 3 selection button. kicks butt - I wont mod it til i get another one tho - as the idea of messing it up is far too upsetting without a replacement

[andy_wheels]

i'm now on my forth hin hon... the first is still alive (just) but i needed to find another just incase it dies.

it's taken me three more purchases to locate another one which has the original big chip rather than the black blob. i'm not sure the blob ones bend as much. i'd imagine not as you can't get to the pins on the chip.

ithere are subtle differences in the outside decor of the synths but it's subtle. hard to tell without opening it up.

anyway, now i've got another big chip version i intend to bend it carefully and document the results. i'll post up the results here.

glad to see some more hin hon love bubbling through this forum! 

[ne7]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that this KB was available as a kit (made by the electronics company Elenco) from Radio Shack in the States.
Theres a manual for it floating round the net with instructions on constructing the kit and also some random information on 'how sound synthesis works' pretty cool...

i cant find a link to that at present but here's a link to the kit on a US site:
http://store.platinumgalleria.com/ak900.html
^
i always think these are a bit pricey tho ...

[andy_wheels]

love the way the keyboard says 'stereophonic' on it in big letters. erm,,,. heheheh



wonder if the kit has the big chip or the blob??

[ne7]

I read on a few blogs that people have been bending the kit so its prob the chip?
Tho maybe the blob version is bedable too (prob harder tho...)

[Orangery]

HELP... I've spent hours (months) playing about with the circuitry on this machine but then it accidentally dropped it off the table onto the floor... wires came off the battery and speaker contacts.  I've soldered them all back again but I have no power, no LED, nothting.  It's possible I've soldered one (or both) of the battery leads to the wrong contact... can anyone who has there 'Hing Hon E-001' in bits take a look where these leads should go, cheers, Dave.

[djsynchro]

I've got one! Heard a sample of it once... Man that snare drum!!! Found one on a 2nd hand stuff site.

Still didn't bend it... coming up though. Put some old batteries in it to see if it's a candidate for a voltage drop pot...
Yes it is: Dirty warm distortion and it starts acting weird.
Pitch bend will also do to get those drums pitched down.

What else can be done?

[ne7]

you can wire up push buttons to select more than one instrument at once as this distorts and modulates the sound... just try holding down 2 or 3 different sound select buttons and playing the KB... Crazy noises!